Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Road Safety) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make my contribution to the Transport Security Amendment (Serious Crime) Bill 2020. I have chaired the Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport inquiry into this since 2017 and I know there have been other Senate inquiries going on with another committee. The bill aims to change the aviation and maritime security requirements that need to be met by aviation and maritime workers in order to receive either the ASIC, the aviation security identity card, or the MSIC, the maritime security identification card. At the outset, Labor fully supports tightening up whatever we have to do to make our nation safer that will address international drug running, weapons and drugs. There's no argument about that, but there is far more evidence we need to seek, far more questions that need to be answered that haven't been answered; therefore we have amendments to put up. Labor will be supporting our amendments and putting forward our argument.

The bill will also see MSIC and ASIC cardholders subject to five different elements of a background check: first, is an identity verification to confirm the individual's identity, with a name, date of birth et cetera—not a problem; second, a history check conducted by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, which I will refer to going forward as the ACIC, to determine whether the individual has been convicted of certain offences identified in the eligibility criteria; third, a security assessment completed by ASIO; fourth, a migration status check conducted by the Department of Home Affairs; and fifth, a criminal intelligence assessment conducted by ACIC which relates to potential involvement in organised crime—remember the word 'potential'. Serious crimes do deserve serious consideration by the Senate; there is no argument about that. Here it remains, what we have are several components of the bill.

The bill will only apply to Australian workers and will do nothing to ensure foreign workers on ships working in Australia's domestic shipping network are subject to similar background checks—similar. What happens currently, we know, is that 24 to 48 hours—500 nautical miles offshore—the company will fax a list of names of seafarers, who will have their relevant passports, and who will be sent to Australia. By the time they land, they're free to go. My concern about this bill is there is no way of knowing. I'm still waiting. I'm speaking now as the Chair of the Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport. I put a series of questions to the department officials and—I am not moving here—when a lot of questions were asked, answers were not given.

As everyone in this place knows—and I've done that many inquiries I can't remember but I can remember six shipping inquiries I've done—at the beginning of every single one of those inquiries we give the witnesses an opportunity to be heard in camera. We go on for about three or four minutes talking about it and they only have to choose to go in camera. If they. were matters of national security that were not there for the world to see, the senators are grown up enough and mature enough to accept that there is certain information that is not for public knowledge. We get that, for crying out loud. Over the weekend I pondered even more about the thought that our agencies could treat the Senate with such disrespect that they wouldn't answer our questions. It's up to them; if they're doing anything different, come and tell me. But they couldn't give us answers to numbers of question like: what constitutes a serious crime? What's the world's secret about telling us what constitutes a serious crime, for crying out loud? We've heard what the Crimes Act determines as a serious crime. One would think that the officers in charge, whether they be ASIO or border protection or whoever they may be, could just answer simple questions of the Senate. It's like: how long's a piece of string?

I'm absolutely disgusted, as chair of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee, when they can't even give us the opportunity by saying, 'It's a national secret and guess what, senators: we know you won't go out and do talkback radio or television.' I know I wouldn't, anyway, but I'd also say that all my colleagues in this building treat national security with the respect it needs. It's just a shame that, whether it's the government under the direction of the minister—I don't know, I've got no idea—or just the government boffins who are over it and think they can snub Senate inquiries, they do not give us the courtesy of providing answers. I have no proof of who it is. But as a long-term senator in this building, what I do know is that you could not insult us more because, when we ask questions of the departments, the least you can do is give the appropriate response. So you will see from my frustration that if we—and prove me wrong—could apply the same diligent background checks to foreign seafarers as we do to our own, I'll be the first one to stand up here. I'll wear a clown suit and I'll apologise profusely that I got it wrong. Guess what? That ain't going to happen.

I think we do know that there were known criminals on flags-of-convenience ships coming here and exploiting foreign workers. Let me just go further with that: in all the six inquiries I've done in shipping, every single inquiry has ended up talking about flags of convenience, the lack of security and the exploitation of foreign seafarers. While I'm on this, there are a couple of examples that I do need to raise. It's important that the Senate hears about these as well as everyone else. One of the hearings here in Canberra was to do with this inquiry. We raised with border protection whether we know who's coming in and who's on these ships. What we do know is what we're being told; we don't know if they've done anything else. One of the examples was given by Border Protection, and I want to get the wording correct. These are not words made up by me, but actual evidence given by the department. It virtually says that the concern that they have—this is Border Protection—is that 'foreign flags of convenience are an opportunity for bad people to utilise flags of convenience to do bad things like drugs and guns and all sorts of stuff like that and people smuggling'. No argument; I thank Border Protection for being so open and honest with us. If the department's got a concern, and we haven't had answers given to us, where is that right? I want to take my hat off and tilt my hat to the people at Border Protection, all those diligent and hardworking men and women in uniform. But one would think that those in suits and ties could back it up and at least answer the senators' questions. God help us if the ministers could answer the questions.

Here is another example that gives me grave concern. We've heard senators talking about Captain Salas. I want to tell you what I know about Captain Salas because I was the chair of the committee when Captain Salas was running rampant on our shores. Captain Salas was on the Sage Sagittarius. This is not made up. This is reported all the way through. They called it the Sage Sagittarius. When they did the inquest they called it the 'death ship' because somehow when Captain Salas—I think it was back in about 2015 or 2016—sailed into Newcastle, on the way in, in international waters, someone went missing, one of the crew. One could assume that the poor devil fell overboard. There is absolutely no way the inquest has shown otherwise. He was tossed overboard. The coroner even went as far as to say that he could've been killed before he went overboard. Damn it, on the way into Newcastle one of the other poor fellas fell into the hull and died—two deaths on Captain Salas' ship.

Then all of a sudden the owners of the ship, a Japanese coal vessel I think it was, put on an undercover—no secret; it has all been reported—Japanese superintendent. He was put on that ship to sail back to Japan. Do you know what happened, Senator Ciccone?